There is no idle writing in the Red Chamber, which is the consensus of the majority of readers. Every plot in the Red Chamber, even every sentence, has a deep meaning. So, what is the author's intention in writing in the twenty-fifth time that Xue Pan saw Lin Daiyu and "crisped down"?
To analyze the intention of a plot, there is a criterion: the plot serves the characters, and the characters serve the main idea. That is to say, the description of each plot is to show the character characteristics of the characters, and the performance of the character characteristics of the characters ultimately points to the main theme of the writing. This plot is no exception, its appearance is to show Lin Daiyu's personality characteristics, and this personality characteristics are directly related to Lin Daiyu's fate, and ultimately point to the main theme of "a dream in the Red Chamber".
Let's look at this sentence first: "(Xue Pan) suddenly caught a glimpse of Lin Daiyu's graceful demeanor, and she had collapsed there. ”
There are two key words and a key person in this sentence, and if we grasp these two key words and this key person, we can quickly find the answer.
These two keywords are "graceful flow" and "crispy", and this key figure is Xue Pan. Below, we will start from these two keywords and this key person to explore the author's intentions in depth.
When Lin Daiyu first entered Jia Province, the author spent a lot of time describing her as "unwilling to easily say one more word and take one more step", and her words and deeds were in line with everyone's demeanor. The Lin family is a family of scholars, and his father, Lin Ruhai, is a former scholar, who can be said to be a representative of the readers at that time, paying special attention to the education of etiquette norms.
In these etiquette norms, there are clear requirements for appearance, which is "feminine appearance", and its requirements are "dignified".
That is to say, at that time, society did not praise good looks, but only demanded modesty. Moreover, the more beautiful you look, the more you have to wrap yourself up and not attract people's attention with beauty, which is also a way to "hide stupidity".
To put it more generally, if a woman wants to attract the attention of others, she can only rely on virtue, not on appearance. When people talk about and praise, they can only talk about it because they are "virtuous women" and not "beautiful women".
Therefore, an adjective such as "graceful flow" must not be placed on a big girl.
Words of the same nature, the author made a criticism in the fifth time, that is, Qin Keqing's judgment: "Good at style, adhering to the appearance of the moon, is the root of the loser." "Good at style", good at style, "bingyue appearance", adhering to the appearance of the moon, this is to say that Qin Keqing is beautiful and good at style, which indirectly led to Jia Zhen's reckless defeat.
Lin Daiyu's "graceful flow" and Qin Keqing's "good style" belong to the same series, so Xue Pan is "crispy".
The word "puff pastry" is also a key word worth exploring. Note that usually literati like to use "pouring", and rarely use "puff pastry", because "pouring" contains cultural atmosphere, but "puff pastry" is pure physiological, and its meaning is "fainting due to the whole body crisp".
Of course, fainting is an exaggerated way of writing, and does not really reach the level of fainting, but crisp hemp is real, which is a physiological response stimulated by external forces.
The same description also appears in the sixty-fifth time, "According to Zhen and Lian's comments, none of the noble and lowly women I have seen have had this (You Third Sister) nickname, and the two of them are already drunk." It is written here that Jia Zhen and Jia Lian are "crisp and drunk" because of You Sanjie's "nickname about the wind", which is the same as Xue Pan's "crispy fall" because of Lin Daiyu's "graceful flow". Moreover, Jia Lian, Jia Zhen and Xue Pan are also consistent in their aesthetics of women, paying attention to physiological feelings and pursuing "skin obscenity".
From this, we can easily see the author's intention: At this time, Lin Daiyu, under the influence of Jia Baoyu, has long lost the dignified demeanor of everyone's boudoir and has become a style woman like Qin Keqing and You's sisters.
Let's talk about the role played by Xue Pan, a key figure here.
Let's first look at the background in which this episode takes place.
The twenty-fifth time, because Baoyu was demonized, he went crazy. Because the incident was sudden and the situation was too abnormal, men and women from all over the house poured into the Grand View Garden.
Note that the Grand View Garden is the backyard of Jia Province, and men are usually forbidden to enter. This time it was because of special circumstances, everyone couldn't care about the ban, and it was important to care about Baoyu. Of course, some of these concerns are made for Mrs. Jia Mu Jia Zhengwang to see, and I don't really care. It was precisely because of this that Xue Pan was worried that Baochao and Xiangling would be touched by people in the water, "and they were afraid that Aunt Xue would be squeezed down, and they were afraid that Xue Baochao would be seen, and they were afraid that Xiangling would be embarrassed by people, -- knowing that Jia Zhen and others were doing kung fu on women, they were too busy."
This sentence can also be seen that the purpose of Xue Pan's entry is to protect his mother, sister and Xiangling. It was at this time that he "suddenly caught a glimpse of Lin Daiyu's graceful demeanor, which had collapsed there."
With so many men coming in, why do you have to talk about Xue Pan? This is exactly what the author intended.
Xue Pan was given a "dumb" word by the author, he is a true temperament, never hide his true feelings, nor will he be bound by etiquette. At this time, so many men pouring into the Grand View Garden, although some wanted to touch the fish in muddy waters, did not dare to be blatant, at least to show the appearance of caring for Baoyu, and first pay attention to Baoyu.
Only Xue Pan was an exception. Xue Pan is still a child's heart, and he has not yet learned to control his desires in front of people. Therefore, his response is the most direct, without thinking through the brain, which is the physiological response. It is precisely because of the direct physiological reaction that Xue Pan is attracted by Daiyu's "gentle flow" to the point of "crispy fall", which shows that at this time he cannot care about protecting his mother, sister and Xiangling.
This is desire first, and responsibility makes way for desire. This kind of thing would only happen to Xue Pan, only he would behave so directly.
This reflects that at this time, Daiyu's "graceful and gentle" posture is very prominent, and she can be "crispy" at a glance by Xue Pan in the crowd.
According to common sense, the Grand View Garden at this time is so lively, as a bridesmaid, Dai Yu should try to hide herself from being seen. However, she was inadvertently seen by Xue Pan, who was "busier than everyone else", indicating that "graceful flow" was already Daiyu's daily posture, and it was a unique scenery of the Grand View Garden, which stood out like a flock of chickens.
This is not a compliment, because "graceful" is not a static depiction of appearance, but a dynamic, referring to the "good style" posture, and there is a style between the hands and feet. This is also the style pursued by Xue Pan, who pursues "skin abuse".
It can be said that at this time, the Daiyu in Xue Pan's eyes is no different from those women he sees outside, so he will be "crisp". With his temperament, if the environment allows, he will come forward and tease like Liu Xianglian.
At this point, we can see the author's hidden intention in this few strokes: the original cautious everyone's girlfriend should have attracted attention because of talent. Now, he was being noticed by Xue Pan, who did not talk about talent and morality, but only paid attention to physiological feelings.
This was the huge change that had taken place after Lin Daiyu entered jia province. And what brought her this change was Jia Baoyu, who was "born with a good skin bag, the original grass in the abdomen". Only because Jia Baoyu liked "Xiangyu", Lin Daiyu lived herself as "Xiangyu" and worked with Baoyu to do the Dream of the Red Chamber. In this dream, Lin Daiyu is getting farther and farther away from everyone's boudoir, getting closer and closer to "special things" and "styles", and finally becoming a victim of Jia Baoyu's "chaos".
This is also the author's regret: only because he is immersed in the dream of the red chamber that escapes from reality, and tires a group of people who accompany him in his dreams to go to a thin life, Lin Daiyu is the most typical and the most regrettable.
Related Reading:
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